Miley Cyrus, Emmylou Harris, Chely
Wright and Ty Herndon are among the celebrities speaking out against
proposed bills in Tennessee that target the transgender community.

House Bill 1840 would allow counselors
to refuse mental health services to clients based on their religious
beliefs, while House Bill 2414 seeks to prohibit students in public
institutions from using the bathroom that does not conform to their
gender at birth. Both bills advanced on Wednesday.

“Those who love and make country
music do so because at its best it speaks to the pain and suffering
everyone shares in this life,” Harris said in a statement. “Let's
not make that life harder still for some, with this mean spirited and
unnecessary legislation.”

Out country music stars Chely Wright
and Ty Herndon also released statements.

“As an artist living and working in
Nashville for more than 20 years, I know how hard it was to struggle
for acceptance as a gay woman,” Wright wrote. “The deck is
stacked even higher against transgender students who face
dramatically increased rates of bullying. This bill will send a
devastating message to transgender youth that they are not welcome,
included or valued. It goes without saying that their classmates and
their communities will hear this message loudly and clearly too;
emboldening many of them to double down on that harassment. I have a
lot of friends in Nashville with great, big voices and it's time that
we all use our voices to stand up against this scourge of
unnecessary, hateful legislation in Tennessee.”

In calling for lawmakers to reject the
bills, Herndon said that “this matter breaks [his] heart.”

“Discrimination is always wrong, but
it's particularly heartbreaking to see legislators considering
terrible measures targeting, instead of supporting, our children,”
Herndon said. “When I told my mother I'm gay, her only concern was
that I would have a happy and successful life. Because My Life
Mattered. Let her be our example.”

Miley Cyrus, who was born in Franklin,
Tennessee, weighed in with her opposition in an Instagram post.

“For a moment a few weeks ago, it
seemed like lawmakers in Tennessee had really heard the brave
testimony of a transgender young person and her parents,” Cyrus
wrote.

“A mother's simple ask to legislators
about what they would do if it was their child who was transgender
hit a nerve, and the anti-transgender bill was sent to a summer study
session, seemingly killing it for this year. But that was two weeks
ago – a lifetime ago, it seems, in light of all that has happened
since – and that bill is back.”